The Butterfly Circus

This is a really great short film that I would love to share with you all. This short story is about healing and how God takes our ashes and gives us a crown! It's so beautifully made and is going to be made into a feature length film!

xx

Passions

Over the past year I've been debating on weather or not to start using this platform as a means to share beauty and hair tips, tutorials and maybe add a couple outfit of the day sort of things here and there. I've been thinking a lot about my passions and although I'm passionate about God and all the things He has done/is doing in my life, I've really wanted to use this blog as a way to share my other passions and connect with people on different levels. I love fashion, makeup, adventures, coffee, music, art, craft beer, brewing kombucha, BUT my biggest passion is doing hair! If you get me and my best friend Danni together (my partner in crime aka my future business partner) most of our time together is spent going to Sephora to return something we didn't like and shopping around for hours testing things and buying more things we would later end up returning. During that time we would be talking about hair, makeup, life, pugs, clothes and tattoos but mostly hair. We would talk about the struggle of not always feeling good enough at our job, color formulations, people we aspire to be like, color formulations, products, dreaming of how we want our salon to look like, color formulations, how long our hair is getting, gawking over stylists inventive ideas and techniques on Instagram (@LarisaLove is our favorite!) did I mention color formulations?! If you don't know what a level 5, 9.02 or 20 vol. is you would have almost no idea what we are talking about! 

I'm not the best influence on Danni. I make her buy everything I want but can't afford!
(Plus check out her art at DanniSjoden.com, I'm so proud of her!)

Even though I live in LA now far away from Denver, and where I'm not currently doing hair on an everyday basis, I've been thinking more and more about how much I absolutely love hair and the industry! I just realized how much I truly missed it when I was invited to do hair for LA Fashion Week. It was super exciting and it's something I've always wanted to do. And I was in MY ZONE! *insert fist pump here* But what was even more great about it are the people I got to work with, hairstylists! We are all different in the way we go about creating art, but I love the same passion we all carry and that's what I miss most about being so involved with this industry. The passionate, fun and creative people! 

Just a couple of the awesome stylists I got to work along side at LA Fashion Week

So everybody, I am officially going to start expanding into other areas of my life that I love dearly and know a thing or two about, right here on my blog. I'm always getting asked how I style hair,  where I buy my clothes, how do I do my eyebrows, cat eyes and get my lipstick to look the way it does. I've got a couple makeup tutorials just sitting on my computer that I've never edited (simply because iMovie is a struggle for me), I've finally found a photographer as well (my husband wasn't too keen to taking my picture for "OOTD") and I've got a but load of products, tips and clothes that I'm just sick of keeping to myself!  

Now introducing for the very first ever…

a list of my

MAKEUP MUST HAVES! 

1. Jane Iredale Smooth Affair Facial Primer & Brightener (www.janeiredale.com)

Primer is the key to making your makeup go on smooth and last all day. You wouldn't paint your nails without a base coat would you? No. So don't paint your face without your primer!

2. Kat Von D Lock-It Tattoo Foundation (Sephora)

I know it says tattoo foundation, I'm sure you can cover tattoos with this, I've never tried I've only used it on my face. This is one of the only foundations I have found that I really love. And since I have combination skin, I tend to get oily but this foundation does not separate like others that I've used. This is really great for medium-full coverage and this line comes in neutral, so you don't have the battle of your skin looking too orange, too yellow, or too pink!

3. Too Faced Candlelight Glow (Sephora) 

I've used so many highlighters, both creams and powders…but this one is really great! It is a white and pink powder you can swirl your brush on and apply to your skin to get a soft, youth luminosity.  

4. Marc Jacobs Perfection Powder (Sephora) 

I've you are someone who usually uses just powder or you just like to set your makeup with powder foundation, this is a really great purchase. It definitely is a bit pricey (I used a gift card for this purchase and it's the only reason I tried it) This powder sits nicely on the skin and looks natural. It can also be layered for more coverage. Plus the packaging alone makes you feel like a million bucks!

5. MAC Pro Longwear Paint Pot (M.A.C)

This is an eyeshadow primer and it comes in neutral and other pretty shimmery colors to not only make your eye make up not melt off your face, but also plays up your shadow color. Do you ever find your eyeshadow settling in your creases by the end of the day? Yah? Well not anymore! 

6. Moonshadow Baked Palette (Sephora)

This eyeshadow palette is really great if you are wanting some nude shades with shimmer but are not wanting to spend the $50 + dollars it costs to get the Urban Decay Naked Palette. Obviously it's not as many shades as the UD but these colors are really great on every skin tone and can be used for a day look and can be used to transition into your evening look.

7. MAC Mineralized Blush-Warm Soul (M.A.C)

This is my go-to blush! It gives a subtile, sun-kissed glow. Plus it can go with whatever look you want! Simple as that.

8. Hoola Benefit Bronzer (Sephora) 

This matte bronzer is awesome for contouring if you're into that sorta thing (I am), but it is also really great for all over if you're just wanting a sun-kissed color without the sun. And the brush comes with and makes to easy to carry with you for travel!

9. Ardell Brow Defining Pallet (Sally's Beauty Supply) 

I bought this palette long before I discovered Anastasia Beverly Hills. It was cheap and I was desperate for a color that matched my eyebrows. I picked this up and really like that it comes with the tweezers and the little brushes I use for travel. I've never used the top color because it is a red-brown. But the middle color is a perfect match for me and I like that there is a highlighter on the palette for your brow bone, it really gives the finishing touch to your brows!

10. Two Faced Better Than Sex Mascara (Sephora) 

Best mascara I've ever used and believe me I've tried a lot! The hourglass shaped wand and magical formula will give you Bambie lashes, without the falsies! 

It's Hump-Day everyone the weekend is almost here! Yah! 

Thank you for stopping by! 

-Grace xo

A Simple Thanks

Since I've been focusing on the power of words and thoughts I've been making a point to being more thankful so I just thought I'd write a short blurb about what I'm thankful for!

1. Marriage. I'm so thankful for my husband Michael. It's crazy to see how far we've come and how much growth we both have had since we've met, since we've started dating and since we've been married. There were times in my first year of marriage I didn't think we were going to make it, it was extremely difficult. But looking back I appreciate all the hard times, all the fights and make ups (believe me, there were a lot). Today I love my husband more than I ever have and that love grows more and more as the days go by. I was thinking the other day how much I will love him when we are really old and wrinkly. I'm thankful that he still pursues me in the midst of our busy lives and that he is committed to my crazy self. I don't know anyone else that would want to sign up for that! He's a good man, a very good man.

2. Support. I'm humbled and thankful for the amount of people in my life who believe in what Michael and I are doing with our lives within missions. We've had so many people from all walks of life, people we know well and others who we only know each others names, who've come behind us and have supported us simply because we share the same heart to bring hope to the hopeless and for the world to know and love the living God! We've had so many supporting us in prayer, in encouragement and financially! It baffles me almost weekly

3. Prayer. This past year I've learned that prayer is a way we have direct communication to God and He actually hears us and responds back. I always do this thing where I freak about the future and just worry for no reason. Oh? You too? It's okay, it's normal…so in my worry I was praying and with out a doubt in my worry God showed up and took it away and replaced it with peace. I am thankful prayer it's not just a one way conversion, which I feel a lot of people think that it's just a way to cry out to God in pain, it's a time we send Him our requests, when everything in life is falling apart, when life isn't panning out like we thought it would, a desperate cry of hopelessness or something we do before we eat dinner on Christmas or Easter. All those things are completely valid and we should do…I always do, but we can also be thankful in our prayers, we can pray for other people just to encourage them and share love with them, we can talk to God about everyday life and actually get a response back.

So, what are you thankful for?

"Give thanks to the Lord, call upon his name, make known his deeds among the peoples, proclaim that his name is exhausted. "Sing praises to the Lord, for he has done gloriously; let this be made known in all the earth."
-Isaiah 12: 4-5

-Grace xo